Facebook Farming

So...I finally stepped into the 21st century and joined Facebook. I only signed up so that I could play a piano game that was offered on there.

That's not the amazing part.

The amazing part is that I am actually playing a game that requires some effort. Not the piano game, but another game called "Farmville". I know...you're shocked. I was too. Doug started playing it about a week or two ago and practically owns the King Ranch now. I, on the other hand, have 9 little squares of strawberries, eggplant, wheat, and *gasp* soybeans. This is not the funny part.

The best part is that you actually have to wait for things to harvest. Granted on a much faster scale. For example, strawberries have to wait 4 HOURS to be harvested.

Okay...call me crazy...but my brain just couldn't register that.

Why do I have to wait???

Can't I harvest now?

Not even just a teeny little bit?

Not one soybean??

YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WAIT?!?!?!?

Because as disturbing as it is that this game perverts nature into growing and harvesting crops in 4 hours from start to finish, my little instant-gratification, pee-brain couldn't even wait that long.

Dear God, I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

Unplayed Piano

I love the keyboard that Doug got me for Christmas! Until we got Merlin, I played it about once a week. Then it sat there collecting dust while I chased a puppy around trying to reclaim my underwear.

Over the last couple of months though I have rededicated myself to practicing. While this week, I have not had a chance to play, I am overall very happy with my progress.

Since music was never really important in my household growing up, it's a little more difficult and I truly feel as though I am having to start from the ground up. But, I am getting the hang of the Waltz, and feel fairly certain that within a couple of months I will be having a recital for a select few who are hard of hearing.

It's only fair.

The Point

I have been working on losing some weight. It's amazing how well it works when I actually get my fat lazy arse off of the couch and put down the Snickers bar. Of course, I already knew this, but I hadn't yet reached "The Point".

"The Point" of where I was completely disgusted with myself and what I had let myself become.

"The Point" where I said for God's sake STOP!

"The Point" where being that weight was really uncomfortable.

I have, thus far, lost 15 pounds and 2 clothes sizes. I have already started getting rid of those old clothes. I have to.

I pulled out a pair of Old Navy size 8 jean's and hung them on the closet door. My goal is to be able to where those on our trip to Ireland.

Oh yeah!! We're going to Ireland. Ahhhhhh...just the thought of it makes me drunk with excitement. Although not drunk enough that I forget that I still have 3 months before we go.

Unfortunately.

Hot Dog...

Well, since Satan has taken up residence in South Texas and it is hotter than, well, Hades, we haven't been able to get much done on the property this summer. Unfortunately, since we do not have a place to stay out there, by the time we drive out there, it is already pushing "hot enough to make your ankles sweat", and you can't do much before you get to "dead from heat exhaustion". If only meteorologists used this kind of terminology on the evening news...maybe I would watch...maybe.

Our lack of being able to get anything done on the property and my sheer laziness is the reason why I haven't posted much in the last month. We have been busy with other items though, namely chasing around the son of Satan AKA Merlin. He is now in intermediate training, and while I do love torturing myself, I am really ready for it to be over. Actually, I am really ready for him to be over a year old because I am telling you right now, that if I have sons I will desert them when they become teenagers. You have all been warned. Actually, I will just send them out to their father. That should do the trick.

The Downside To Getting Dressed In The Dark...

You wear two different flip-flops to work.

MY Mother Never Told Me

About this kind of love. That it is possible to love this much. That my heart could bear so much, from sadness to elation. Then to forget in the heat of battle, only to be reminded when the smoke has cleared.

She never told me that it is all about compromise. The things that used to be so important, like putting the toilet paper on a certain way, really aren't. It's about being best friends and being excited to see him at the end of a really hard day.

She never told me that even if something happens and I physically lose this love, it will hurt. God it will hurt, and I won't be able to breath for a while, but I will be okay. In fact, I will be better for having had the chance to love this much.

My New Favorite Place

I've been up the Eiffel Tower, walk the halls of The Louvre, gazed in wonder at the carvings in Notre Dame and Chartres Cathedral, and they are beautiful, breathtaking. Believe me. But I have a new favorite place. Without a doubt. It's our new stock tank. This is what the land looked like before...

That's Doug and Merlin in the bottom of the tank.

The tank was built to capture rain run-off. About two weeks after the tank was completed, we received 4" of rain.

This is what it looks like now...
This is where you will find me in the future...pondering my belly button lint...while hearing this:


It has been a year since we signed the paperwork buying this property. In that time, we have:
- Spent the night on OUR land
- Put in two gates
- Cleared 13 acres
- Purchased a tractor and trailer
- Built a stock tank
- Marked fence lines and put in posts
- Purchased auger and bit to help with the fence post holes
- Took lots of pictures. I still like taking pictures of the cows...

It's been a slow process, but it occurs to me that it is all falling into place. All of the setbacks have been frustrating, but it seems they have all happened for a reason. That's the best we can hope for.